Referring to the figure in the picture above as “Mary,” the email lands with the title “Mary Needs Help.” It reads:

Meet Mary.

Mary is a little, shall we say, confused…

…but Mary isn’t confused about whether or not the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is going to allow someone like him to keep teaching your kids while he undergoes his transformation from ugly caterpillar into a beautiful… something or other…

First of all, if this was meant to be an intelligent, even humorous, rhetorical device it didn’t work, not even a bit.

Second, the misgendering is blatant and deliberately offensive. I wouldn’t expect anything less, but it still should be noted.

Third, on the scaremongering that there will be transgender people in schools: so what? So long as they are qualified to teach and maintain the professionalism expected of all teachers, what is the problem? Ah, but there’s the rub, it’s harder to demonize trans people to your kids when their favorite teacher is in fact trans identifying.

Believe it or not, Mary isn’t alone.

I just sat through a U.S. Senate hearing on ENDA that his friends were able to get, and I have got to put some media heat on these deeply troubled individuals before the Obama administration gives the homosexual/transgender lobby the single largest gift in the history of their movement!

Can you please donate $35 right now so I can put some media attention on this guy?

And now we get to the heart of it–they just want money. Shock.

ENDA is a very real threat to classrooms across the nation. Traditional Values Coalition has been fighting this bill since it was first floated in 1994, and we have continued to fight it tooth and nail.

Not only would ENDA threaten the religious liberties of anyone questioning whether teachers such as “Mary” were appropriate for a Kindergarten classroom,ENDA would force public schools and local governments to hire transgenders and she-males as a “protected class” — even to the point of forcing 34 state governments to legalize the “Dirty 30″ of bizarre sexual orientations as cited by the American Psychiatric Association.

No it wouldn’t. The Tradition Values Coalition and its ilk have continually pushed this lie but have never been able to evidence that this would happen because there’s absolutely no mention of this in the legislation. What they are doing is making an assumption that, based on the false equivalency that LGBT identity is the same as diagnoses of fetishism, this must necessarily follow. Oh, and ENDA has broad religious exemptions so religious schools would be able to keep hiring and firing as they like.

That’s wrong. I intend to stop ENDA before it reaches a boiling point. The mainstream media isn’t going to simply give Christians a fair shake on ENDA. They will ignore us if we let them. TVC killed ENDA two years ago. In fact, ENDA was scheduled to be voted on, but the liberals were too scared to vote on the bill when the truth was revealed ENDA would put transgenders in the classroom teaching our kids!

Historical revisionism. The legislation didn’t receive a vote amid the traction gained on a DADT repeal and it was unlikely, given the Republican House leadership’s influence, that enough support could be gained to pass ENDA through the lower chamber without serious political capital being redirected from the DADT push. (This is not to comment on whether or not that should have happened, only to state the facts). That TVC is claiming this as a victory is unabashed self-aggrandizement that speaks of how TVC is apparently desperate for funds and willing to play loose with the truth.

I intend to be right there at the every stage of the game, emptying the office and bringing my staff with me, handing out press releases, white papers, talking one-on-one to members of the media — whatever it takes to let the homosexual/transgender lobby know that we’re watching them.

I’m sure they know you’re watching them TVC. And I’m sure that, like me, they’ll disseminate your ridiculous, transphobic mailer as widely as possible so the media can see what disgusting lengths you’ll go to in order to stop the Employment Non Discrimination Act, which is basic employment protection legislation that over 70% of Americans and all religious denominations support.

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62 comments

Dee C., you worry about children understanding and society is pushing "concepts of gayness and transgender before they can formulate their own beliefs"

In my experience, children accept what is before them if it is presented to them especially when it is done in a calm way. I have dozens to trans and gay friends, and every single one has had no problem with acceptance from the children in their families, ranging from 2 to 18 years old. The only problems have arisen when the adults in the family have not accepted the "abnormal" (their words, not mine) adult. I remember hearing a 4 year old asking his parents why they were being nasty to Auntie Joanna, when they had been nice when she had been called Uncle James. He said they were being naughty and it wasn't nice to be nasty.

Children are not born with prejudice, it is forced upon them by others. We should allow ourselves to learn from them in this respect.

Jenn says: I wonder how many of those people ever gave any real thought as to why they're happy to uproot normalcy and decency in society and supporting what is wrong instead of what is right.

There was a time, when by the majority, SLAVERY was thought "Normal" and "Decent".
There was a time, when WIFE-BEATING was thought so.
There was a time, when CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, BEATING BY TEACHERS, took place EVERY DAY in schools, was meted out to almost EVERY student, routinely.
There was a time, when gay people, witches, and heretics were BURNED AT THE STAKE, by the THOUSANDS.
All the "Normal", "Decent", "Respectable" people of the time, approved.
The distinct Minority, those who OPPOSED these atrocities, were considered "in the Wrong".

As the Opposition increased, and, finally, became the Majority, we got to a "NEW NORMAL"; a NEW STANDARD OF "DECENCY". As it should be!
THIS IS WHAT EQUAL RIGHTS PROPONENTS ARE WORKING EVERY DAY TO ACHIEVE: A NEW "NORMALCY AND DECENCY" STANDARD.
We're getting there, too!
Thank you, Care2, for being such a wonderful forum for us to achieve this worth goal!

Jenn C
i think you don't understand what free speech means.
like the freedom to purse happiness, your free speech ends when it hurts someone else.
hate speech is exactly like assault - you are forcing your hatred onto others.
you can't say that your happiness requires you to kill others, because that violates THEIR rights, and you can't say that your free speech is more important than anyone else's - you seem to demand free speech, but claim other's is being "in your face" - and you can't say that your verbal assaults and hate speech are about freedom of expression - because they take the right to not be verbally assaulted away from your targets.

i wish people who used the free speech excuse would at least be honest - they claim freedom is important, but obviously only when they like what others are saying. because all of us who believe being gay is not "wrong" (as you say it is) are just as free to express our views. please note which group is using hatred though. yeah, it isn't the people who just want to be treated like all other tax paying citizens. it's people like you.

In a NON-HOMOPHOBIC SETTING, there is NO REASON for kids to be "worried" about their sex or their sexual orientation. {I think "confused" in this context, actually means "worried".}

Being Gay or Trans, unlike what the Homophobes say, is NOT about what you do in bed, with whom, all the details! It shows the narrow minds of the Homophobes, that they like to focus on that as if that were all!
Few Gay, Trans, or for that matter Heterosexual people, would discuss sexual activities with young children inappropriately. {Just Catholic Priest Pedophiles are likely to do this!}

As far as "beliefs" about Sexual Ethics goes, those of course are formed in a variety of ways as a person grows up -- parents or role models, reading, peers, etc. Some Catholics believe that all Gay people should be permanently celibate {like priests are NOT!}. The relation between one's sexuality and one's ethics is NOT harmed by exposure to FACTS OF LIFE at an early age -- that can only HELP! A relatively "rare" FACT, like Transsexuality, is still a FACT...... And being informed, is an Armor against pedophiles, which is why pedophiles {and the Catholic Church!} are AGAINST such information being public.....

Why should it "confuse" children, if they have a teacher who is transitioning their [his or her] gender?
They simply are growing up in a world, where people can and do transition their gender!
Why should children, or anyone else, form any "beliefs" about this?
We "believe in" bees, butterflies, worms, leaves, flowers, rocks, shells..... they are just a part of Nature, that kids need to know about!
How is being Gay or bisexual or transgender any different???
Obsolete "religious" beliefs would infer that these things don't exist. That is like obsolete religious beliefs that dinosaurs didn't exist, or the sun goes around the earth, or the earth is flat, or life couldn't possibly exist on other planets, or angels are pushing the sun, moon and stars around the heavens. {You mean they AREN'T???}
Kids need an education in REALITY. They will just take this in stride like they take moon landings in stride. It's part of their world.
No, kids' OWN gender won't be "confused" by such a teacher. They won't be saying, Mr./Ms. Smith got a sex-change operation, now *I* have to have one!!! Kids know from an early age, no matter WHAT they have been "exposed" to, whether they are gay or straight or trans; or female or male any of these things.....

I have no problem with different sexual orientations
my concern is for children....depending on their age this may be confusing to them....depending on has long this teacher has been seen as Mary, I think that is ok to continue her transformation

children often don't understand just what is going on and I think sometimes we push on them the concepts of gayness and transgender before they can formulate their own beliefs...

People in wheelchairs and homosexuals were among the first to be imprisoned and jailed by the Nazis. The hatred by so many Americans against any sexuality that doesn't fit their limited framework of beliefs about it would support this persecution. The truth is, if homosexuality or trans-sexuality were a threat to heterosexuality, then we'd all be gay or trans. The opposite would also be true -- heterosexuality would be a threat to homosexuality, and just by being around straight people, all gays and lesbians would revert to being hetero.

I've seen people who are so hateful that they are just as hostile towards people with visible disabilities as they are towards people of other sexual persuasions. I guess they are afraid, too, that disabilities are contagious.

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Steve Williams is a passionate supporter of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) rights, human rights, animal welfare and health care reform. He is a published novelist, poet and citizen journalist, and a scriptwriter for computer games, film and web serials. less